Education can eradicate poverty

Education can eradicate poverty

I read an article in The Jakarta Post on July 26, 2000, which
states that Bazis is collecting more donations and plans to use
the funds to eradicate poverty and improve the quality of human
resources by allocating Rp 5.5 billion in scholarships for
children of poor families in the form of packages comprising
shoes, books and uniforms.

If our schools do not expect their students to wear a uniform
or specific shoes then part of that Rp 5.5 billion could be used
to train teachers (it would be ideal if our teachers could be
sent overseas to countries like the UK to learn their teaching
methods), and build more good-quality schools.

I feel this would be more effective to help realize our desire
to eradicate poverty and improve the quality (especially
mentally) of human resources of all Indonesians (not only the
poor), since -- according to research done by one school -- the
quality of a school is set by high-quality teachers and correct
teaching-learning methods, not by a completeness of its physical
facilities nor by the shoes or uniforms its students wear.

I guess this is the time for our minister of education to
establish what is essential to improve our human resources. Then,
in the next 20 years we will have a much better generation.

DIAN KARTIKA SARI

Jakarta